Episode: 040 “I’ve Got Scars, Baby: Stop Hiding and Be Seen” (Audra Bryant)                 

Airdate: December 8, 2021

Length: 56:41

Guests: Audra Bryant

In this powerful episode Audra Bryant shares her story of being a burn survivor. She experienced the traumatic event when she was just 18 months old. During her childhood she felt a sense of shame about the scars on her body. She quickly learned how to hide those scars as well as how to hide behind them. Admittedly, she barely looked at herself in the mirror until she was 25 years old. Imagine the effort, the energy, and the strategizing just to stay hidden.

But she then shifts the conversation to how and why she stopped hiding and began the journey to healing on the inside. She sees her own scar as a metaphor for both physical, emotional, and psychological scars that all people have. Truth be told, we all hide behind something. She calls us out of hiding to be seen and more importantly, to see ourselves. Our scars are proof of both woundedness and healing. Stop hiding and be seen. Turn your scars into your superpower!

You can follow Audra’s music on Apple Music, Spotify, or her website www.audrabryant.com. You can also order her book I’ve Got Scars, Baby! and listen to her podcast of the same name on her site as well. Lastly, check out her YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/user/AudraBryant.

IG: @audraabryant

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Phil Allen, Jr. is a Los Angeles-based author, poet, social justice activist, and filmmaker. Allen’s book Open Wounds explores the murder of Nate Allen—Phil Allen’s grandfather—in the Jim Crow era of South Carolina and how that traumatic event resonated through generations of his family. Open Wounds – which is based on the Allen-produced documentary of the same name – was published on February 9, 2021. Allen is a Ph.D. candidate studying Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.

Episode: 039 “Forgiveness: When Relationships Wound and Heal” (Cristin Spriggs)                    

Airdate: November 24, 2021

Length: 54:22

Guests: Cristin Spriggs

Sometimes the challenging path to healing is not hard to find, but it is within in our grasp, one decision away. It doesn’t mean the process to healing is easy, but it is attainable. Hear Cristin Spriggs’ story about her two-fold journey to forgive her father for absence and neglect when she was a child and finding a family (his family) she never knew. Cristin shares a powerful testimony of forgiveness that released her into healing and wholeness. In this process, she was able to connect with her father’s side of the family which is of Indigenous background, the Lumbee Tribe.

Forgiveness is not about letting those who offend us off the hook, but about letting ourselves off the hook. Our souls carry the weight and burden of unforgiveness that hinders growth. Forgiveness has the potential to lift that weight. Entering relationship with the family she never knew contributed to lifting that weight. She learns that her gift of hospitality is in her blood. The hospitality she received affirmed her. The soil she digs with her hands as she gardens is in her blood as well. It is connected to her father’s love for trees and his landscaping business. The soil she digs is also connected to her people’s land, this land that was taken from Native People. As she says about her people, "Lumbee people are cultivators of the land."

She offers hope for healing during this holiday season and beyond with the simple practice of forgiveness. This is not an overnight achievement, but a beautiful, messy, and painful process. Be invited to this process in your own life if/where there is the need to forgive someone so that you can experience more wholeness.

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Phil Allen, Jr. is a Los Angeles-based author, poet, social justice activist, and filmmaker. Allen’s book Open Wounds explores the murder of Nate Allen—Phil Allen’s grandfather—in the Jim Crow era of South Carolina and how that traumatic event resonated through generations of his family. Open Wounds – which is based on the Allen-produced documentary of the same name – was published on February 9, 2021. Allen is a Ph.D. candidate studying Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.

Episode: 038 “Coming Home to Myself: Healing from Lies and Narratives (Danielle Castillejo)               

Airdate: November 17, 2021

Length: 48:03

Guests: Danielle Castillejo

In this episode Danielle Castillejo discusses her journey in rewriting new narratives around her identity as an Indigenous, Mexican, and German woman, as well as new narratives around her faith. She learned as a child what it meant to not belong in white spaces by observing her mother’s experiences. Now she navigates that space with her own family—husband of Latino background and her children. But what does it mean to be in white spaces, particularly in white conservative, evangelical Christian spaces? One thing we learn from this episode is what it means to deconstruct and reconstruct. Danielle shares we were never deconstructing in the first place because we have not been whole. The narratives of the dominant culture has left us in pieces. It’s time to turn the lights on and become whole.

Danielle grounds her work, personally and professionally, in Jesus. Despite the theologies that have oppressed and manipulated, she rests in the kindness and love of Jesus. This is certainly where wholeness begins, when we identify and allow the brown-bodied Jesus to love us through the Spirit. Listen to a snippet of her own story from childhood to adult. Glean from her faith. Take heed to reintegrate body and mind and live into wholeness.

You can follow her at www.daniellecastillejo.com or www.wayfindingtherapy.com

Also check out the podcast she co-hosts called The Arise Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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Phil Allen, Jr. is a Los Angeles-based author, poet, social justice activist, and filmmaker. Allen’s book Open Wounds explores the murder of Nate Allen—Phil Allen’s grandfather—in the Jim Crow era of South Carolina and how that traumatic event resonated through generations of his family. Open Wounds – which is based on the Allen-produced documentary of the same name – was published on February 9, 2021. Allen is a Ph.D. candidate studying Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.